You Have a Visitor
by Black.Rose.Authoress
Summary: Dean receives an unexpected visitor while he's in the hospital. Human AU.


A/N: Sooo, you know how annoying it is when an author who up to this point has only posted stories in a single fandom suddenly starts posting in a new fandom? Yeah... I'm not giving up my other fics, though, so don't worry.

This is going to be my first Supernatural fic. As warnings, this is an AU because that's pretty much all I write. The pairing is Destiel eventually and it's going to be rated T, mostly just for language. Hope you enjoy and that I don't completely botch the characters!

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**You Have a Visitor**  
**Day One**

_So it goes…_

Dean Winchester was so used to the door creaking open at random times throughout the day and night that he didn't even respond anymore. He just continued reading, flipping the page as he finished the last paragraph. Thank God for Sam's massive personal library, he thought. He'd have gone completely insane if he'd had to survive this place without anything to take his mind off of things.

He apparently wasn't going to be allowed to remain contentedly engrossed in his book, however, as someone cleared their throat and startled him enough that he jumped. He turned his head and stared at the nurse. The shoutiest, ugly one. "Dean Winchester, you have a visitor."

He just blinked at her as she turned and left, allowing the door to fall closed behind her.

For a minute, he was sure that he'd heard wrong. A visitor? Who the hell would be visiting him? Sam was in one of his classes right now and nobody else lived anywhere nearby. Dean had already expressly forbidden Bobby, Ellen, and Jo from driving all the way out here just to visit him for the single hour that was allowed.

He wracked his brain, trying to think if there was anyone else who knew he was here and might decide to visit for some reason. How fucking sad was it that he couldn't think of anyone? He'd managed to live in this city for six months now without making any friends or even close acquaintances.

Dean lay there for another moment and then pulled himself to a seated position, stretching his arms over his head and listening to the joints crack. Then he flipped the book upside-down—Sam hated it when he did that, but Sam wasn't here was he?—and stood.

Might as well go see what 'visitor' she was talking about. Wouldn't surprise him if she'd make a mistake and the visitor was for someone else.

Gave him something to do for a few minutes, at least. He walked out of his room—didn't bother to close the door behind him, since the nurses liked to leave it open after they checked his room anyway—and headed down the hallway, cold from the linoleum seeping through his socks.

A crowd of guests were congregated in the hallway, waiting to sign in. He passed through them without a second glance and headed straight for the table in the corner where he usually met with Sammy. He flopped into one of the seats—the bottom was weighted with sand so it'd be practically impossible to move. Kept people from throwing them around.

He now looked over the group waiting to sign in, searching for a familiar face. Nobody popped out, although he recognized some of the people as regular visitors for the other patients.

Yep, she'd made a mistake. Not all that surprisingly. He yawned and stretched his legs out under the table, considering whether he should leave now or wait until the crowd had dispersed.

"Dean Winchester?"

And what was with people sneaking up on him today? He almost managed to move the sand-chair with how hard he jolted at the voice that sounded from right beside his head.

"Dude, what the he—?" he started as he turned… And then he froze.

A man was standing beside him. Probably around Dean's own age, in his mid to late-twenties. He had messy, dark hair that looked like it hadn't seen a comb in a while and a chin that looked like it hadn't seen a _razor _in a while. Clothing-wise he was wearing a rumpled suit with the tie on backwards under a long, tan trenchcoat like a flasher might wear. But what had stopped Dean's thoughts dead in their tracks were his eyes...

Because he'd _seen_ those eerily blue eyes before.

"You!"

The guy didn't seem at all off-put by his exclamation. He just shoved something in Dean's direction and explained, "My brother told me that it is customary to bring a gift when you visit someone in the hospital. I wasn't sure what you would like, but there seemed to be quite a lot of stuffed animals in the gift shop, so..."

He was holding a stuffed manatee, which was bizarre and random enough that Dean just stared at it in confusion for a few moments. Then he slowly reached out and took it, not sure what else he should do.

"Um, thanks?" He set it on the table and stared at him. "You're the guy who saved me, right?"

The last thing he remembered clearly before he'd woken up in a hospital bed with an I.V. taped to his arm were blue, panicked eyes, staring down at him. And a rough voice shouting at him to 'Breathe!' as a heavy weight thumped over and over against his chest.

This was the guy who'd pulled him out of the river and called the ambulance.

The man nodded as he slid into the seat across from Dean and then clasped his hands on top of the table. "Yes. Gabriel—my brother—thought it was strange of me to want to visit, but I wanted to assure myself that you're doing okay." He tilted his head slightly. "Do you mind?"

"Neh…" He shrugged and then picked up the manatee to look it over. It had a pink ribbon around its neck and he vaguely wondered why in the world a northeastern hospital would stock stuffed manatees in its gift shop. "It gets pretty boring in here and my brother can only come during the evening visiting hour. So…" He set the manatee down. "Do I get a name or do you prefer 'my personal savior'?"

He titled his head again, looking as if he were actually trying to figure out whether Dean was being serious or not. Then he responded, "Castiel. Castiel Novak."

"Castiel… That's… interesting." Guy had a weird ass name, but he seemed like a pretty weird ass guy. 'Cause seriously, what kind of person decided to come and visit the guy they'd dragged out of a river that he'd thrown himself into? Especially when he was stuck in the hospital's psych ward.

Castiel didn't seem all that weirded out by the whole psych ward thing, though. He was just sitting there and staring serenely at Dean. Barely even blinking, it seemed.

Dude, it'd just figure if it turned out that he'd gotten rescued by a freaky stalker or something.

"So," Dean started after a sufficiently long awkward silence. "I guess I should say thanks for pulling me out of that river."

Castiel made a slight shrugging motion in his too-big coat. "I don't require any gratitude."

Again, weird, but he felt rather thankful for that... Since he was _drowning_ in chick flick moments in this place; the nurses and psychiatrists and therapists were always asking how he _felt _about things and poking and prodding when he didn't feel like answering.

"So..." Dean tapped his fingers against the table and looked over at some of the other patients and visitors seated around the room. "What did you want to talk about then, if you don't want my undying gratitude?"

Castiel actually looked unsure, like he hadn't really thought about that. Then he asked, "How has your day been?"

Yeah, this guy was definitely weird. But, Dean found himself actually starting to feel _comfortable _for some weird reason. Probably just because he hadn't had someone to really talk to in a while besides his brother, the other crazies, and the staff—out of those, the only person he _enjoyed _talking to was Sammy. But he was so anxious that he not say anything that might set Dean off—like he was a time bomb or something—that he kept censoring himself during his visits. Which got really old, really fast.

This weird, manatee-bringing guy actually provided an ear that wasn't related to him and wasn't controlling how long he stayed here. Plus, he hadn't asked anything along the lines of _why_ he'd thrown himself off that bridge, which earned him extra points.

"It's blown. Earl woke probably everybody down the hall up at five this morning with a rousing rendition of 'Under the Sea'." He motioned with his head toward the enormously obese man who was sitting on the other side of the room with a guy he assumed was the brother he incessantly talked about during group. "Then we all lined up for meds, went to a bunch of group sessions that were unhelpful as hell. Had lunch, which was pretty disgusting, and I've been reading in my room since then." And Castiel actually nodded, as if this was all incredibly interesting. "Such is the life of us crazies."

"Just because you are in a psychiatric ward does not mean you're crazy," Castiel responded.

Dean snorted. "Somebody forgot to tell Earl that."

Castiel didn't reply to that, instead he sat there and distractedly played with the sleeves of his coat while glancing around at the posters on the wall. Each one outlined a different mental illness and how it was caused by the brain and all that shit; Sam had probably read each at least five times over since Dean had arrived.

This was fucking awkward as hell, though. Just sitting here with the guy who'd saved his life, especially since _Castiel _didn't look at all uncomfortable. He actually seemed interested in those posters… Probably a nerd like Sam.

Half of Dean just wanted to sit here and wait for time to run out; then Castiel would leave and they'd never see each other again. He could go on and feel good about himself for coming and visiting the crazy person in need and Dean would continue with his plan to do everything possible to get out of this place.

But there was some part of him—probably the crazy part—that was intrigued by this guy. And that part suddenly asked, "So, what about you? You heard me complain about my day, so what do you do? Besides rescue people from rivers."

Castiel's attention returned and Dean was really struck by how freakin' intense those eyes were when they focused on you. Hell, no wonder they were the only things he could really remember clearly from after he jumped and before the hospital...

"I...work in an office." He turned away, looking a little uncomfortable with this turn in the conversation.

Dean grinned slightly. "Not something you really enjoy, huh?"

Castiel shrugged. "My father helped me find the job. I'm very...grateful."

"Doesn't mean you can't think it blows."

Castiel turned back to him, eyes scrunched slightly as he seemed to consider this. "I suppose."

"So what about your family?" Dean leaned forward, resting his elbows on table as he glanced toward the clock on the wall. Fifteen minutes left. "Married? Kids?"

He shook his head. "No. I currently live with my brother, Gabriel. And I have five other siblings."

"_Five_? Holy shit, and here I thought Sammy was enough of a pain in the ass."

"Is he your brother?" he questioned. And it was weird talking to someone who actually sounded interested in these details of Dean's life. Someone who wasn't being _paid _to be interested, at least.

"Yep," And Dean knew that he'd puffed up a little and his voice held more than a hint of pride at the mention of his little brother. "He's in college right now, studying to be a big-shot lawyer. Always been at the top of his class, so it wouldn't surprise me at all if he ended up getting a full-ride to law school."

"You sound like you're proud of him."

Of course he was. Sammy was a fucking genius and Dean figured that if he'd done nothing else right in his life, at least he'd done well by his little bro. All he said, though, was "Sure I am. Little geek's gotta have something going for him since he missed out on the looks."

Castiel tilted his head again and Dean was pretty sure he'd just managed to completely miss the joke.

This guy was definitely an oddball, but Dean was pretty sure that he actually _liked_ him for some reason. He stretched his legs out underneath the table and leaned backwards, eyeing Castiel curiously. It'd figure, he didn't connect with anybody in the city 'til he jumped off a bridge and when he _did _meet someone he didn't mind talking to, said guy would be a trench coat-wearing possible stalker.

Course, he was in a psych ward. It wasn't like he could get much lower than this.

Which was probably why he suddenly asked, "You doing anything around this time tomorrow?"

And Castiel didn't look at all phased by the question, which was another point in the incredibly-strange-possibly-a-stalker category. "No, I don't have any plans."

The river water must have done something to his brain. That was the most reasonable explanation for his actions right now.

"My brother brought me cards yesterday and most of the people here aren't any good." Although one of the little twenty-something year old girls had destroyed him in a game of checkers the other day. That had been a pretty interesting ten minutes or so.

Castiel frowned at that. "I don't know how…"

"Visiting time's over," the nurse sitting at the check-in table interrupted. Sending them an impatient look, because the nurses here always shoved the visitors out as quickly as possible.

Dean sent Castiel a grin as he stood up and brushed at his trench coat. "I'll teach ya, so don't worry. You can't be any worse than Earl."

Playing poker with Earl. Not an experience he really wanted to repeat.

Castiel nodded sagely and then remarked, "It says on the tag attached to her tail that the manatee's name is Marsha. Unless you'd prefer renaming her."

Dean blinked, and then glanced at the toy. "I'm pretty sure Marsha's fine."

To which Castiel gave another nod before he turned and joined the line of people signing themselves out. While Dean just sat at the table, watching and wondering what in the world he thought he was doing.

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A/N: So, for those of you who know me personally/follow me on Tumblr (the link's on my profile), you'll know that I spent time in a psych ward not too long ago. So, this is based off of my own experiences. Obviously I can't speak for _all _psych wards and some stuff I might be remembering wrong, but hopefully I do a pretty decent job at portraying the experience...

Also, yes, there was an Earl... (Not his real name, of course.) He was an interesting fellow.

I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! And that I did decently with the characters, since I've never written them before... :)


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